No dancing allowed at our venue. HELP.

Okay ladies, so I am getting married April 11, 2015. We are getting married at our church, and planning on having an outdoor reception. Our church does not allow dancing so we need other ideas for entertainment. I was thinking a bonfire and we also have a volleyball net..but I don’t know what else to do?? Also there will be a lot of kids there so I need ideas for them too….I am totally stressed, please help.

We *are* having dancing, but our alternate activites for guests who want a break could work for you: bocce ball, croquet, volleyball (still debating this one; unlikely people will play in their nice clothes, but it’s available at our site), fire pit + s’mores making, candy/snack bar. Basically, give them activities and lots of food and treats! Cornhole and kubb are two other fun games you could put out for people. For the kids, why not print out some color book pages? They could also be given bubbles or soft tossing balls (I’d avoid hard balls or frisbees unless you make sure they use them far away from the other guests). Don’t stress, I’m sure it will be great! People will be having fun talking to each other and eating. Just don’t be sad if some people leave early-ish, because that’s one thing I could see happening in this situation. Either way, you are going to have a beautiful day, don’t worry too much over this!

We are date twins. What about adding DIY food stations? Popcorn is yummy and fun add toppings that can be added. Fairly inexpensive too. Serving mashed potatoes tune it into a potato bar with cheese, chives, bacon, sour cream etc. We are having a nacho bar for appetizers which I another suggestion.

PP mentioned the games I was going to suggest. Games are a fun activity the most people can participate in.

kelli7421: We went to one with games recently. There were card games and connect fours on the taller cocktail tables. There were also horseshoes and ladder tosses in the grass. The best was: bean bag tosses set up that had brides and grooms painted on them and the bean bags said his/hers and mr/mrs. Super cute.

winterwoodlandbride15: Sadly, no dancing anywhere on the property. There is a huge field where I’m thinking of having everything. Also no trees….so Im wondering how to decorate besides tables. I am not very creative haha

winterwoodlandbride15: Sadly, no dancing anywhere on the property. There is a huge field where I’m thinking of having everything. Also no trees….so Im wondering how to decorate besides tables. I am not very creative haha

MrsMaverick13: Yes we were thinking of doing the bean bag thing also it sounds fun…how does it work, like are there teams? lol

angyjaxon: yay date twins!! I thought about doing something like a cotton candy stand, or popcorn also sounds fun.. We are having a buffet and I think the mashed potato bar sounds awesome. We are planning on having a bonfire with smores so I’m really hoping it doesn’t rain!! April sadly is so unpredictable….

kelli7421: I think you just let your guests wing it as they mingle, but they usually pair off for teams. My DH and I played each other and we also played other couples. For the card games it seemed to be mostly families playing together. If there is no dancing at all (this one was mixed), I would suggest having your DJ announce/get people involved and maybe even one organized game to get the mood going if numbers are not too large to do so.

I have also been to a wedding where there was no dancing, and to keep people engaged, they did a kissing game. Basically all of the couples at the event, young and old, had their names placed on cards by the bride and groom and the DJ pulled names out of a hat and announced them. The couple had to stand up and do a fun kiss and the bride and groom had to copy whatever they did. People seemed to have fun with it, and didn’t know about it ahead of time so it was a fun surprise. I thought it was a little strange for a moment there when some younger people got a little too mushy/into it bc it was a dry, religious wedding so it seemed a bit juxtaposed to me, but it was still cute and funny (and thinking back maybe it is actually safer at a dry wedding. Lol). If you know your crowd and the church wouldn’t have a problem with that or anything, it might work well.